One crazy food-lover's ramblings about eating, thinking about eating, talking about eating, cooking, baking, feeding a toddler, cookbooks, and restaurants.

May 7, 2011

A Merry Brunch at Meritage

I’ve mentioned before the predicament I face whenever I go out for brunch. I always find myself stuck between wanting salty and sweet. The doughy comforting French toast and pancakes always calls my name, but then so do the salty and crisp roasted potatoes and bacon that go along with the savory eggy dishes.

I usually am forced to pick (except when on vaca in another state, of course)—and sweet is generally the winner. And then I am forced to slyly swipe some of Zach’s salty off his plate.

Because brunch is usually a one-course affair.

But not at Meritage! They have outsmarted the system. And because of that, they are now hands-down, my favorite brunch place in the TC.

The menu starts out with an amusements section, little $3 bites like Bloody Mary Oyster Shooters or Beignets. Little things that can help balance out that sweet / salty predicament but won’t fill you up.

Our table chose a few orders of the Beignets to have with our Blood Orange Mimosas. Things were off to a brilliant start as we sipped in the sun that was pouring in through the windows. It’s chic in there for sure—Parisian-esque, sophisticated, but not stuffy.

The mains were what you’d expect from a mains section of a brunch menu, but twisted slightly to be special. Steak and Eggs, Strawberry Ricotta Pancakes, Eggs Benedict, Lobster Rolls.

Lobster Rolls. You know I could never turn down a lobster roll, right?

So, I didn’t. The Strawberry Ricotta pancakes were majorly on my radar. But Lobster Roll it was—and I wasn’t disappointed. The Lobster Roll was definitely good—tons of big chunks of lobster, lots of fresh herbies to add good flavor. I only wish the mayo had been thicker—it was on the runny side as evidenced by the drips on our plates and my pal Wendy and I hovered over our plates as we ate. But, that didn’t stop me from devouring the whole beautiful thing. Along with the skinny crispy almost-perfect fries.

At this point we were all pretty full, but genius strikes again with little dessert offerings. Little sweet nibbles that don’t make you feel like you’re really eating dessert. It almost doesn’t count as dessert in my opinion.

Again, almost all of us played copy cat and ordered the Izzy’s Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pops dipped in chocolate. How can you not when they’re so dang cute? This has to be my favorite ice cream ever. Salty. Caramel-y. So unbelievably wonderful and creamy.

I’m digging Meritage in a big way. Next brunch, that’s where I’ll be. I almost guarantee it.